The city is set to unveil plans for a major new downtown cycle track, offering protection for cyclists on a road that stretches from the Bow to the Elbow Rivers, and services such facilities as Olympic Plaza, the Epcor Centre, Stampede Park and a number of major employment centres, including The Bow skyscraper and the planned 58-storey Telus Sky tower.

Unlike the city’s first downtown separated bike lane constructed earlier this year on 7th Street S.W., this plan is being embraced by business groups who say it is being located in a logical location that could serve as a major transportation link and help revitalize street-level business in some areas.

The cycle track, the next step in a developing plan to build a network of bike lanes downtown protected from vehicle traffic by concrete barriers, will see a two-way cycle track built on the east side of 1st Street S.E. stretching from the busy pathways along the Bow River through downtown and the Beltline to the Elbow River near Lindsay Park.

Here’s where the cycle track will be located. Click Play to be taken down the route at street level.

The plan would see the the east lane of 1st Street turned over to cyclists travelling in both directions and a concrete barrier built to protect them from cars, something cycling advocacy groups have long sought as a way of making cycling easier for less aggressive people on bikes. Blanka Bracic, a transportation planner with the city of Calgary, says the route was chosen because cyclists need safe routes through east downtown, and this path has the smallest impact on vehicle traffic and street parking.

“We know cycling has increased substantially in the past five years, and we’re seeing a whole different market for cyclists,” Bracic said. “We’ve been asked to protect cyclists to those destinations and we currently we have no safe way to get them there.”

Details for the plan still need to be worked out, but David Low, executive director of the Victoria Park Business Revitalization Zone, which represents more than 300 businesses in the area just south of downtown, called the idea “fantastic.”

“We see this as a win for everybody. We don’t really see any downside. We’re promoting less vehicle dependence, healthier lifestyles and reinforcing at-grade retail,” Low said. He expects impact on vehicle traffic and parking to be minimal, and said the track could be a boon for business.

“(The road) is an extremely fast movement corridor and doesn’t really promote shopping at grade. . . Having a cycle track can, in theory, open up opportunities for business.”

In the downtown core, Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, which represents downtown businesses and has long expressed skepticism over the city’s downtown bike routes, says this is a plan that “actually makes sense.”

She continues to criticize the 7th Street S.W. cycle track for everything from poor consultations with citizens to its lack of connecting routes, but says a bike lane on 1st Street S.E. could offer great connections for current and potential downtown bicycle commuters, with minimal impact on vehicular traffic.

“For the first time, we’re seeing something that actually connects to previous bike infrastructure and it goes through the core. It starts to make sense. This is really worth pushing for,” she said. “Will it slow down (vehicle) traffic? Yes, probably some, but it probably won’t get a lot slower. It’s already slow.

“People are asking for this. (Downtown) energy companies are asking for it. They see it as the ability to offer their staff options. All these new buildings are getting beautiful cycling facilities, but as soon as cyclists get out on the street, they are fair game.

“This one makes sense.”

Not everyone is fully embracing the idea. Carol Buchanan, who owns Buchanan’s Chop House and Whisky Bar along the city’s first cycle track on 7th Street S.W., says the city has much work to do to improve the process of building cycle tracks. In speaking of the 7th Street S.W. route, she criticizes everything from poor consultation to poor education to costs. She says her business has suffered since the cycle track was built because it’s made the street confusing to drivers.

“What I’m concerned about is this city is not looking out for small entrepreneurs,” Buchanan said. “The number of (cyclists) will grow, the city will be bike friendly, and that’s great. But that’s 10 years from now. Until that time, I’m still fighting with City Hall.

“There’s got to be a better way.”

Kimberley Nelson, director of Bike Calgary, a cycling advocacy group, says cyclists are in need of protected routes downtown, but without seeing a plans for a larger comprehensive network of connecting lanes downtown, including east-west routes, she is withholding full support.

“If it’s a standalone (cycle track), it’s not going to be be of use to most Calgarians,” Nelson said. “If the network doesn’t connect, this won’t be a success.”

Gary Beaton of advocacy group Tour de Nuit Society also expressed tentative support, saying this idea sounds like an improvement over previous bike infrastructure projects, but effective consultation and a look at the bigger picture is essential.

“I would like to see transportation planners talk about the whole network … otherwise the piecemeal approach to planning is alive and well. That should concern all Calgarians,” he said. “I would also like to see some studies to see the impact on car traffic, otherwise it will be a little bit of waving a red flag at a bull.”

That larger network is coming, says Bracic. The city is about to launch a consultation process to start developing plans for several routes through downtown and the Beltline. The city has identified areas for potential routes, and is seeking public input on specifics. Several information sessions are planning in the coming months.

“Consultation is key,” Scofield says. “We talk a lot about communication and education. We would like to see both, and we haven’t seen that yet.”

Update: Comments from Coun. Druh Farrell, as told to Jason Markusoff: “That one makes sense because it helps fill a need on the east side of Calgary and there’s lots of capacity to allow for cyclists,” Farrell said. “An east-west route will be more difficult.”

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